BREAKING: Say Goodbye to Blue Book and OSCOLA! Welcome the Standard Indian Legal Citation (SILC)

This is a big development in the history of legal academia in India! India will now have its own standardized Legal Citation System.

Led by Rohit K. Pothukuchi (NALSAR graduate, presently pursuing LLM from UC Berkeley School of Law), Debanshu Khettry (NUJS graduate, presently pursuing LLM at Univesity College London) and Shambo Nandy (NUJS graduate, presently working as a junior to Raju Ramachandran), the Standard Indian Legal Citation (SILC) is supported by leading academics and lawyers in India.

About

Standard Indian Legal Citation (SILC) is an India-centric citation system developed to provide the Indian legal community with a single citation methodology that takes into account India’s rich legal traditions and history.

Background to the Standard Indian Legal Citation

Indian legal institutions have witnessed a significant spurt in research output and the creation of journals: in the past 5 years alone, leading law schools have established nearly 30 academic journals.

While this is an excellent development for Indian Legal academia, a number of differing standards are being used across the nation for citation and research, causing significant disparity and irregularity. Major journals in India currently follow citation systems that have not been developed indigenously.

Legal institutions and universities have varying citation standards for project submissions and in-class work, some universities lack clear citation guidelines and rules altogether. SILC hopes to unify academics, professionals, and students across the nation in their research practices.

SILC is being developed by Indian academicians, students, and professionals, many of whom have served as journal editors. SILC is advised by some of India’s leading lawyers & international experts. A full list of advisors can be found at www.silcmanual.org.

Aims of Standard Indian Legal Citation

SILC hopes to usher in an era of uniformity in the citation practices of Indian journals, law schools, and by extension, legal documentation in India. We aim to provide a citation system that is simple, easy, and unique to India. SILC hopes to achieve a number of objectives, including:

Providing a citation system that comprehensively covers Indian legal sources and material, not covered by foreign citation systems.

Providing an easy to use and easy to access citation system that will always be free of cost to everyone.

Bringing uniformity in the practices of law journals and law schools across India, and by extension, increase connectivity between law schools and journals in the nation.

The Difference

SILC provides a comprehensive guide to citing Indian legal sources and material, not covered by foreign citation guides. What does SILC cover that other citation systems do not? Here are a few examples:

Advisors

SILC is being developed with the advice and close guidance of some of India’s leading lawyers, as well as international experts including Mr. Rajiv K. Luthra (Managing Partne, Luthra & Luthra Law Offices), Prof. M.P. Singh (former Chair, Judicial Academy, Delhi), and leaders across India. A list of advisors can be found at our Advisors page.

Why Switch to the Standard Indian Legal Citation?

By switching to SILC you will become part of a national movement towards creating simple and uniform citation that is tailored specifically for Indian law and research. India requires more uniformity and connectivity between law journals, SILC provides an opportunity for this to happen.

By switching, you would help create the future of uniform legal citation in India. SILC is free–it will help enable more students from various backgrounds to engage in research and help improve the quality of legal research in India.

Most journals in the US have a unique citation system (Blue Book), most journals in the UK have a unique citation system (OSCOLA), isn’t it time India had its own system?

Make the Switch!

SILC has a network of editors across law schools, supportive professors nation-wide, and leading advisors, who are all strategically launching the system.

You can be a part of the change by registering as a SILC user at the register page and downloading a free working-draft of SILC for personal use or for use in your classroom. If you have any questions about SILC, please contact an editor.

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